Sitting on roof / max roof load / Custom Roof Rack

[Pairs_1871]

Hello fellow VW California owners

I am planning on installing solar panels on mt t4 california 1993. To do this I want to install a custom roof rack out of steel 2×4 s (which make a frame around the whole roof). On the left side of this rack the solar panels will sit and the actual rack 2x4s you can use to attach stuff like surfboards. On the right I plan to put a (wooden) board inside the frame so that we could sit on top of the roof. This is no problem on most vans ( sat on my old t4s roof all the time no problem, but obviously the t4 californias pop up roof is different and breaking it would end up quite expensive... ). The frame will be attached to the roof on the verry edges of the roof where it can support the most and i am hoping that when sitting on the wooden boards the weight will be distrobuted over all 8 connection points between roof rack and roof. Would be really cool if this works out as I loved sitting on the roof of my old t4 and looking at the sea.

Anybody got any experience or educated guesses?


All the best and thanks for the help!!!
Stef

 

[sidepod]

The Westy roof does have mounts for roof rails.
Regarding sitting on it? Hmmmm?

 

[WelshGas]

Hello fellow VW California owners

I am planning on installing solar panels on mt t4 california 1993. To do this I want to install a custom roof rack out of steel 2×4 s (which make a frame around the whole roof). On the left side of this rack the solar panels will sit and the actual rack 2x4s you can use to attach stuff like surfboards. On the right I plan to put a (wooden) board inside the frame so that we could sit on top of the roof. This is no problem on most vans ( sat on my old t4s roof all the time no problem, but obviously the t4 californias pop up roof is different and breaking it would end up quite expensive... ). The frame will be attached to the roof on the verry edges of the roof where it can support the most and i am hoping that when sitting on the wooden boards the weight will be distrobuted over all 8 connection points between roof rack and roof. Would be really cool if this works out as I loved sitting on the roof of my old t4 and looking at the sea.

Anybody got any experience or educated guesses?


All the best and thanks for the help!!!
Stef

So will the solar panels be mounted on the elevating roof or the roof rack?
If on the roof rack, how do you raise the pop top?
So if the wooden board is in place you can’t open the pop top?
If this proposed roof rack is fitted to the top of the side panels/roof edge it would require cross bars for strength and stability which would obstruct the pop top.

I may have misinterpreted what you described but I just can’t see it being done safely without compromising use of the elevating roof.

 

[Pairs_1871]

So the roof rack with cross bars would be mounted on the edge of the pop top (while its still flat) not on the actual chassis of the car. The rack with panels shouldnt be a problem (its just harder to open it up) because I know people that did this. Its realt just the question if the pop top is stable enough if you would sit on the wrack.

 

[WelshGas]

So the roof rack with cross bars would be mounted on the edge of the pop top (while its still flat) not on the actual chassis of the car. The rack with panels shouldnt be a problem (its just harder to open it up) because I know people that did this. Its realt just the question if the pop top is stable enough if you would sit on the wrack.

OK. Personally I wouldn't. The elevating section is made from aluminium and I certainly wouldn't want to put any significant load on the roof edge profile, that's why there are fittings for roof rails installed, but maximum weight is about 50kgms.

 

[ArunAlec]

OK. Personally I wouldn't. The elevating section is made from aluminium and I certainly wouldn't want to put any significant load on the roof edge profile, that's why there are fittings for roof rails installed, but maximum weight is about 50kgms.

If I recall the handbook stated that the 50kg (including weight of roof bars) should be equally distributed over the 4 fixing points, so not a lot of scope for a heavy load.